Happy Monday all!!

Wow, such great news from the weekend! Glad you're feeling better TWINCA and congrats on the continued losses!!

BanTam! 10 pounds GONE! Fantastic!

Sheila, you're a stronger woman than I for going to the movies. Good job on limiting your stumble!

It's funny, I am not always as positive and happy as I show myself to be in my posts. I was feeling blue yesterday for absolutely no reason. I wondered if it was hormonal as I restarted the pill after the off week. I know that soy can mess with the hormones. I absent-mindedly ate my mid-afternoon snack an hour early and the period of time from 3-6 pm was torture because I got hungry. Now, I don't know if it was psychological hunger or physiological. I wonder if my brain reacted emotionally to the having eaten off schedule and my hunger was a manifestation of that panic.

I also noticed today I am having cravings I have not had before. I was craving a fried egg. Strangely specific, it was the ones fried in grease that you get at a restaurant. It quickly passed, but it was unexpected as I'm not one prone to cravings.

Today is a new day and I'm back to being my hopeful, positive self, but that waver was unsettling.

Have a great day!!

Laura

Laura – Congrats on the BIG loss!! You did really well resisting the temptation at Costco. Sometimes I make a game out of it and find something I CAN eat, knowing that eventually I’ll be off MF and have to learn to make those decisions. Regarding the “weigh day”, I went through something similar in the first go ‘round with MF…I had Monday as my original day, then I switched to Saturday to give myself more calorie budget for the weekend. This time around, I have and am keeping Monday as my weigh day to keep me more “honest” on the weekend.

Steph – It sounds like the party was hard, but you made it! That’s a WIN! I averaged about 3 pounds a week in 2012. I lost about 10-12 pounds a month after the first month.

MorningGlory – I would imagine that chasing around a 3 ½ year old is giving you plenty of exercise! 

TwinCA – Yay on the 30 pounds! That’s not a little and the next 56 will be gone too, just give it time. Dropping 3 dress sizes with 15 pounds is a lot, but it also depends on the cut of the dress…if you go from a form fitting dress, to a wrap-around dress…well, there is a LOT of different sizing going on there! I think as we go through this process we all run the gamut of emotions from being excited and in the “honeymoon phase” with Medifast to beginning to resent it but only because we really resent the control we have to have over ourselves. You will hit your goal, look how strong you are, even when sick!!

Sheila – The sodium in the popcorn probably caused some fluid retention. Good for you for getting right back on track! For me, getting BACK on track is the hardest thing to do. We all need to find ways to make the program work for us, and you are doing it. As I mentioned to Laura, I have to keep Monday as my weigh day to keep me from over indulging on the weekends.

Here’s off to a good Monday, everyone!

Good morning!

Day #3 for me. My food arrived Friday, so I started up first thing Saturday morning.

So glad I started earlier then expected.

I'm not feeling that great, but I'm determined to stay on plan. Looking to weigh in on Friday's.

Back in 2013 I did Medifast at a center. This time around, I'm doing it on my own (no coach, just strictly MF foods and my L&G - and support forums like the one here).

I really hate these first 3 days. I hope I remember how yucky it is when I think of going off plan and needing to start over again. UGH. I hope tomorrow is much better!

I'm at home chasing after my 1.5 year old! Man, he gets into so much :) My older kids are at school today, so it'll be quiter here today.

Here's to a successful on-plan day everyone!

MamaRach - Those first days can be rough! you can do it!!


To everyone - is it my imagination or are there more calories in the products now, compared to five years ago?? I averaged about 765-800 a day back then and now I can't keep it as low...I'm choosing most of the same products.

Hi All ~

Monday started out great for me. Got on the scale to see my weekly weight loss and I'm down another 5 pounds. I am super jazzed with that number. I have consistently been losing 4-5 pounds each week. I am feeling SMALL! I increased exercising a bit this past week but still only doing 30 minutes of cardio with added weights now. It has given me back the energy that I had been missing earlier in the month. I feel good!!

55 pounds lost so far with 29 to go. I WILL do this! I am committed to not eating off plan and no pity parties for myself!

Karen

Karen! Fantastic news! The fact that you've consistently lost 4-5/week reinforces my hope that I can do 4/week on this program. I am over the moon delighted for you! Keep up the good work!

To celebrate your success, I offer dancing veggies:

:carrot: :dancer: :broc: :dancer: :carrot: :broc: :dancer: :carrot: :dancer: :broc: :dancer: :carrot: :dancer: :broc:

Cheers,
Laura

Karen - Awesome losses!!! Congrats!!!!

Karen~ You go, girl!!! I am amazed at your consistent high losses! Don't forget to post them on the New You, New Year challenge! You deserve to be 1st place winner!
:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

BamTam~ I applaud you, too! :congrat: 10 pounds is awesome!!!

:cheer3: :cheer3: :cheer3: :cheer3:

Not sure about the calorie count on the old Medifast products. I seem to remember being in the 850 range for the 5 meals plus Lean and Green.

MamaRach ~ Hang in there, you know how this works....in the next couple of days you are going to feel marvelous! I don't know how you do it with 4 children...I was wiped out after 4 days with my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter!
:hyper: :hyper:

Wow, great losses you guys! I am so inspired by the determination in your posts and how you all get over stumbles or hard things and keep going. I am determined to do the same!

I found a solution to part of my smoothie-overabundance problem! I found this recipe on the Sandy's Kitchen facebook but it seems to be gone now, so let me record it here. I did not use any actual coconut flakes when I made mine this morning, just the extract. It was very good! A little dry, but tasty. Maybe I can experiment with making it more moist.

Pina Colada Pancake

1 Pineapple Mango Smoothie (1 Meal)
1/4 tsp baking powder (1/2 Condiment)
1/4 tsp coconut extract (1/4 Condiment)
1 tsp unsweetened coconut flakes, divided
(I used Bob's Red Mill Unsweetened Coconut Flakes for 3 tbsp it is 100 Calories, 10 g Fat, 4 g Carbs so 1 tsp would be 11 calories, 1.1 g Fat, 0.44 g Carbs so 1/2 Condiment)
2 tbsp egg whites
2 tbsp water

Top with 5 grams fat free reddi whip (1 condiment)

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl except use 1/2 tsp coconut for the batter and the other 1/2 tsp will be reserved for the topping. Let batter sit for about 5 minutes. This allows the batter to thicken up some. Lightly spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and allow the skillet to get hot for medium high heat. Pour batter into skillet. When the batter starts to bubble up and is brown, flip it. Cook the other side until done. I let it cool for a few minutes and then topped it with Reddi Whip. The easiest way to measure whipped cream is to put the pancake plate and all on the food scale. Then set the scale to 0 and spray that whipped cream on until the scale says 5 grams. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut on top. Enjoy!

2.25 Condiments and 1 Meal

Happy Tuesday all!!

So excited to see the new posts in the forum! Hope they join us here! I made a decision today to alter my next order. I realized I'm not a fan of the desserts or the shakes, so I've altered my upcoming meal plans to eat more during the day as I am not hungry at night. It's so funny, I was thinking I had to stick to the same proportions that they gave me with the starter kit instead of fine-tuning it to my tastes. Actually looking forward to my next shipment that should come late next week when I'm in Charlotte!

Have a great OP day!!

Cheers,
Laura

Happy Tuesday to you, too!!

Girl, I cannot drink the shakes at all anymore! I have tried everything, including the SHAKE CAKE ��. Did my green face smiley show up? I can't tell. Hahaha! No, it did not!!

Good Morning all!

I think I may still be suffering from the too much salty, fatty movie popcorn on Saturday. Up .4 today after a really strong day Sunday and Monday. I think I drank enough water to float myself. This is the downside to weighing yourself everyday. I will definitely live with it knowing that this is part and parcel of, A. eating popcorn and B. normal fluctuations. By staying on plan it will continue to come off. On the plus side, I find that even losing 15 lbs has increased my stamina and speed on the treadmill everyday. I'm back to where I was a year ago which makes me happy and allows me to sleep more deeply. We're going to be adding weights starting tonight! Really excited about that.

I also think it is a mistake to let my wonderful husband cook. He is also on the plan but is starting to "eyeball" things. Last night we had veggie omelets. Or we were going to have veggie omelets. When they came out of the kitchen they had grown substantially and had chicken as well. I stopped myself from eating the entire thing because I could tell by looking at the size it was too much. Nothing in it was off limits as far as content, it was just too much food. That's how a 6'2" 250 man looks at food!

He is stuck at 250 and 25 lbs lost but unexpectedly spent the weekend with one of the boys stuck in a small town motel when there vehicle broke down on Friday night 3 hours from home. He did well, no breads, no sugar but I'm sure ate more calories than he should have. That's why MF is good for him, its a set amount of calories!

As to MF foods, we have started having the coffee soft serve each evening which I blend with chopped ice and put in the freezer (in small ramikins) for 15 minutes before we eat. Its very satisfying at the end of the day.

Stay the course!

Sheila

BanTam, it's the weirdest thing. Maybe because it is a drink my brain cannot process that it's sustaining me. I don't know. I did start adding a cup of ice that makes it more like a real shake but then I don't like drinking cold things... LOL.

I am not really a dessert person (that was historically a special occasion thing in my family) and I took many years to get out of the eating at night habit, so for me the sweet baking and pudding treats (which are a pain to prepare for me) don't really fit into my overall strategy.

Question for those out there: anyone have two meals at once? I feel like eating every 2 hours might be too often for me, but 3 hour intervals is too long during my work day. If I have a 'big' lunch of say soup and cheese puffs, would that be counter-productive? Curious to know others' experiences.

Cheers,
Laura